Defending the Christian faith and promoting its wisdom against the secular and religious challenges of our day.

Friday, August 2, 2013

The Abuse of Power: Few Seem to Care

After the Department of Justicesecretly obtained
phone records from Associated Press reporters, the press awoke from their long sleep and were
understandably outraged by this abuse of power. The Washington Post wrote:

“Whatever
national-security enhancement this was intended to achieve seems likely to
be outweighed by the damage to press freedom and governmental
transparency.”

The New York Times was
also outraged:

“This
action against The A.P. … ‘calls into question the very integrity’ of the administration’s
policy toward the press.”

USA Today wrote:

“Another
day, another excessive use of government power by the Obama
administration. … At first blush, seizing reporters’ records might sound
too arcane to be of much public interest. But that’s far from the case.
When the Justice Department grabs reporters’ phone records, it insulates
the administration from the scrutiny that a free press is supposed to
provide. … This administration needs some hard thinking about abuse of
power.”

However, after this issue passed, the press fell back into
its self-imposed sleep, the very thing that it shouldn’t do, the very thing
that betrays its very reason-for-being. What good is the press if it refuses to
expose the continuing abuses of power! How can congressmen stand against it
when their constituency remains unaware of the justice of their cause!

Our Founding Fathers had warned about the abuse of power.
George Washington cautioned: “Occupants of public offices love power and are
prone to abuse it.” Benjamin Franklin advised:

“This
will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of
well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which
God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance
that tyranny begins.”

Our fourth President, James Madison, also cautioned:

“The
essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human
hands, will ever be liable to abuse.”

If this is so, then eternal vigilance is necessary. However,
we bask under the illusion that a police state could never happen here, at
least not one which would turn against us. Fox News asked college students to
sign a petition calling for the recall of our constitutional rights. Fox was
astounded by the number who readily signed this petition.

Do we have anything to fear regarding the imposition of a
police state? Jay Tapper writes:

CNN
has uncovered exclusive new information about what is allegedly happening
at the CIA, in the wake of the deadly Benghazi terror attack.

Since
January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency's missions in Libya,
have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations,
according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency's workings.

The
goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is
talking to the media or Congress.

It is
being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any
unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his
or her career.

In
exclusive communications obtained by CNN, one insider writes, "You
don't jeopardize yourself; you jeopardize your family as well."

Another
says, "You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear
on anyone with knowledge of this operation."

"Agency
employees typically are polygraphed every three to four years. Never more
than that," said former CIA operative and CNN analyst Robert Baer.

There had been numerous CIA personnel and contractors at the
Benghazi
compound at the time of the attack. U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf had wanted to subpoena
them and grant them immunity. However, things have changed:

"Initially they were not afraid to come
forward. They wanted the opportunity, and they wanted to be subpoenaed, because
if you're subpoenaed, it sort of protects you, you're forced to come before
Congress. Now that's all changed," said Wolf.

Meanwhile, our President calls this a “phony scandal” along
with the many others – Fast and Furious, NSA, IRS - our administration is
sitting upon. At the same time, a host of other potential abuses of power are
shouting to be exposed.

A
brochure emailed to Department of Justice employees requiring them to
verbally affirm homosexuality regardless of their personal beliefs has
sparked accusations of religious intolerance and viewpoint discrimination,

"This
is ‘1984’ just a few decades late,” he said. “This is so Orwellian.
President Obama said he intended to fundamentally transform America.
That’s exactly what they are doing and they are doing it within the
Department of Justice.”

This represents more than just the infringement upon our constitutionally
guaranteed freedom of speech. It represents the most malicious form of rape – a
coercion of not only body but also of mind!

If the press continues in their unconscious state, future generations
will point their fingers at those who had been entrusted to protect our
liberties against these egregious abuses of power.

Where will all of this lead? Pastor Martin Niemoller had
become one of the leaders of the “Confessing
Church” during the
National Socialist insanity that had taken captive perhaps the most educated
nation of the world at that time. He opposed Adolph Hitler and was consequently
sent to jail in 1937 and then to a concentration camp for the remainder of the
war. Later, Niemoller famously confessed,

First
the Nazis went after the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not object.
Then they went after the trade-unionists, but I was not a trade-unionist
so I did not object. Then they came after me, and there was no one left to
object.